5 week old sleeping long stretches

My 5 week old has been sleeping 3-4 hour stretches and waking to nurse for only 5-10 minutes on one side at night. Is this going to affect my supply? During the day she nurses every 1.5-2 hours. Do I need to pump at night to keep the supply up or pump more during the day to average out to 10-12 sessions. When I pump at night I can get 1 oz from each side in under 10 minutes after 2-3 hit gap so she is getting about an oz from the one side and then dozing off. Is this normal and ok? Her weight gain is fine, about an oz a day and she has lots of wet and dirty diapers.

Re: 5 week old sleeping long stretches

My little guy slept one or two 3 hour stretches at that time too. As long as he nursed frequently during the day, I didn't worry about it. Like yours, his wet diapers and weight gain were good. My supply now at 11 weeks is still fine.

Btw, she's probably getting more than an ounce at those nighttime feedings, because usually our babies are more effective than a pump. This is only my first baby, so I'm no expert, but I would say your baby is doing fine, so screw the pump and take advantage of those nighttime stretches to SLEEP! Some mamas would kill for a baby who gave them three hours at a time. And you never know, she might change it up next week and you'll be thinking "those were the days!"

Re: 5 week old sleeping long stretches

In a baby who is gaining weight well, nursing frequently during the day, and has a well-established breastfeeding relationship (which should be the case by 5 weeks in an exclusively breastfed baby who hasn't had any nursing struggles), then it is fine to have a 3-4 hour stretch at night. I agree, enjoy it while it lasts! Sounds like you are doing great!

Re: 5 week old sleeping long stretches

Thanks for the posts. She has been doing great and I have been pumping every now and then to boost my supply some. I generally get 1-2oz when I pump in place of a nursing session. She is sleeping now and has been since 1:30...so I'm guessing I need to wake her up soon to nurse. When she is up, she nurses 3-4 times in an hour span and then takes a nice long nap. Is it okay for the nursing to be so sporatic? I'm worried about not getting enough sessions in esp since she only actively sucks for 10-15 mins on one side at a time max. Sigh...

Re: 5 week old sleeping long stretches

To me, what says everything is just fine is the fact that she is gaining an ounce a day. Here's a link about expected weight gain during infancy: http://kellymom.com/bf/normal/weight-gain/. As you can see, an ounce a day is a perfectly appropriate amount! Babies, particularly breastfed ones, don't feed on a schedule. They may cluster feed for four hours straight between 6 pm and 10 pm, then sleep for four hours between 10 pm and 2 am, then feed again at 4 am and again at 5 am, and so on through the day. If you are worried about how much she's drinking, no harm in offering more! You cannot overfeed a baby at the breast. If she's full, she won't nurse.

If she is sucking for 10 to 15 minutes and then stops because she falls asleep, you might want to try waking her to see if she wants the other side. Sometimes simply repositioning her to the other side is enough to stimulate her interest; or you can try some of the waking techniques listed here, http://www.llli.org/docs/00000000000...py_newborn.pdf, or even change her diaper at that point and put her back on the other breast. But it's possible she's full after just one side, particularly if you have any degree of oversupply.